As shootings recede, Santana, Granite Hills start up without hitch

By Jill Spielvogel UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

September 5, 2001

Students waited in line for schedules, met old friends and learned their new teachers' rules at Santana and Granite Hills high schools yesterday, which administrators and students said was a pretty typical first day of class.

After the March shootings that killed two students and injured 18 others at Santana and Granite Hills, full-time police resource officers will be on every campus in the Grossmont Union High School District this year. Additional police patrolled the area around Santana and Granite Hills yesterday, for traffic control and reassurance.

Other than long lines to make schedule adjustments, Santana's first day went smoothly, Principal Karen Degischer said. Many teachers sported Santana purple, and the campus was loud with chatter and laughter, she said.

At Granite Hills, the biggest headache was construction work that tore up a section of sidewalk in front of the school and eliminated parking on a nearby street. Extra police officers helped to manage first-day congestion aggravated by the street work.

"We'll get through it," said principal Georgette Torres as she roamed among students arriving at school.

In Santee yesterday morning, sheriff's deputies Mike McNeill and Peter Larson sat at Starbucks, watching students trickle, then funnel toward Santana High on the other side of the street. They said they would shadow Santee schools all day to make students more aware of their presence.

The Sheriff's Department in Santee told patrol deputies who weren't on assignment to spend time around schools yesterday, to assist in traffic control and to help ease parents' concerns, Lt. Bill Hogue said.

A couple of television crews and some reporters stood across from Santana to interview students, angering some. One woman yelled, "Leave the kids alone," as she drove by.

The school doesn't want to be in the spotlight anymore, said Superintendent Granger Ward, who visited the school yesterday morning. He said classrooms there looked the same as any other year and any other school.

Sophomore Jennifer Fife said, "It's over, it's done. Life goes on."

Several students, like Junior Brandon Smith, said they were excited to return.

The summer helped people regain their bearings, but coming back was hard for people who experienced the shooting, said Angelica Prescott, a special education aide at Santana. Both schools have additional counselors this year to help students and staff.

"It's like an earthquake," Prescott said. "We had the big one and now we're just feeling little aftershocks."

At Granite Hills, several students said they weren't looking forward to returning to school, but that had more to do with regrets about ending their summer vacation than fears that their school would be the scene of another shooting.

"The odds of that happening again here are one in a million," said freshman Kyle Gardina, 14.